


Killing Must Feel Good to Gods, Too.

by Housefrau



Category: American Gods (TV), Hannibal (TV), Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Blood, Cannibalism, Drinking, Drug Use, Dubious Consent, F/M, Fist Fights, Gay Sex, Hate fucking, Hostage Situations, Hypnotism, Kidnapping, M/M, Multi, Public Sex, Swearing, Violence, nose boops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 13:57:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13436199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Housefrau/pseuds/Housefrau
Summary: Will Graham and Shadow Moon find themselves in a very similar situation.After being unable to save her life on his own, Will begs the Goblin King to heal Abigail Hobbs. The Goblin King agrees to help, but will not give her back unless Will comes to retrieve her himself.After a heated argument with Shadow, Laura Moon wishes herself away. Much to Shadow's surprise, the Goblin King actually takes her.Will and Shadow ask for Abigail and Laura to be returned, but now must complete the labyrinth within thirteen hours in order to get them back. If they fail, the Goblin King will either have new goblins to do his bidding... or dinner.After all, Hannibal Lecter is the Goblin King. He finds that following through with wishes to take humans away is the easiest way to get fresh meat for his infamous dinner parties.





	1. Glamours and Leprechauns

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Hannibal/Labyrinth AU based off of a dream I had, in which the characters from American Gods were the maze-dwellers. I know there are several Labyrinth AUs already, but I hope that mine is different enough to stand on its own!
> 
> The explicit rating wil be earned in chapter 6, but I went ahead and set it up! I think I also got all necessary tags put onto the fic, but it might change if I realized that I missed something.
> 
> If YOU realize I missed a tag, please let me know. Thank you!

_Will thought he was going to check out a lead, but when the suspect slit his wife’s throat and shoved her onto the pavement, it all changed. Will killed the man, but not before the guy had sliced open his own daughter’s throat. Abigail. Will had orphaned her and he was failing to save her life… so he’d begged. He’d called on the Goblin King for help, and Hannibal had come. The tall man with his strange accent wouldn’t just fix her, however. He was going to keep her. When Will pleaded for another option, the Goblin King had given him the chance to look after her after all. All Will had to do was win her back._

\---

When Will came to, his first thought was of Abigail. He reached out to find her and his hand slid over her arm… no, that wasn’t her arm. He opened his eyes expecting to see a teenage girl, and instead saw the stern look of a man who’d obviously done time and who didn’t appreciate the touch. Will pulled his hand back quickly, and struggled up to his feet.

“Sorry. I, uh…” Will looked around. They were on a hill. In three directions there was nothing, and in the last direction, a far-off castle surrounded by some sort of maze. “Where are we? Who are you?”

“Shadow,” Shadow said. He got to his feet as well and dusted himself off, looking Will over. Then he looked toward the castle as well. “Shadow Moon. We’re supposed to solve that.”

Will’s eyebrows rose. What sort of a name was Shadow Moon? The word ‘solve’ made it all flash back to him.

 “He said that we have thirteen hours.”

“That guy with the weird-ass sense of style?” Shadow asked. Will nodded.

“Him. I’m Will. Graham. Will Graham. You’re here for somebody, too, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah. My wife. You?”

“Somebody I tried to save,” Will said with a frown. “We need to move. If we don’t find them in time, he’ll keep them.”

Will started down the hill to the wall that enclosed the labyrinth, and Shadow followed in silence. It only took a few moments for Will to find a lever hidden within the wall, and he slipped between the doors even as they were opening. He looked one way and then the other.

“Which way, Shadow?”

“Straight.”

“There’s a wall there. Left, or right?”

“Straight, Graham. Are you serious?” Shadow stepped past him and walked directly into- no, through- the wall. Will watched in awe, then followed him. There was another, smaller pathway hidden behind the false wall, and it opened directly onto a passage that headed for the castle.

“See?”

“It looked like a wall. Like there was no way through,” Will said as he caught up to Shadow. “I don’t understand.”

They were both walking quickly, and looking down the pathways that branched off, but this one was pointing toward the castle, so it seemed like a good bet. Shadow glanced toward him and forced himself to be less defensive.

“I have these gifts. Got ‘em from my father, I guess. There’s this thing, this sort of magic, called a glamour. They’re all over this place,” Shadow explained. “I could see that it was there, so I knew it was hiding something.”

Will watched him from the corner of his eye as they walked.

“Alright, sure. We’re coming up on a dead end. Unless there’s another glamour, I think we should go left.”

“No, right.”

“Look at the path, Shadow. It’s well maintained.”

“And? The other one’s full of twigs and shit.”

“He relies on people going right because it looks like the travelled path. The stone is the same as the stones from the pathway at the start. It probably loops directly back to the beginning.” Will tried to keep the academic tone from his voice and mostly succeeded. He could tell that Shadow was thinking it over. Finally, Shadow agreed.

“Fine. We’ll go left. But if this gets us killed, I’m not listening to you again.”

“Fair,” Will agreed.

They followed the path that led left, stepping over fallen branches and ducking under the overgrowth and side-stepping past strange stalks with eyeballs that seemed to follow their movements. Will was just starting to wonder if they’d passed the same eyeball patch more than once when Shadow pointed out a glamour in the wall. Another doorway.

The two men stepped through and found themselves in an open courtyard. In the middle of the square there was a large, but crumbling throne carved from a boulder. Sitting in the throne, sipping from a saucer of milk, was a red-haired man. He regarded them with confusion, followed by resignation.

“Who the hell’re you, then?” He set the bowl on the arm of the throne. Will and Shadow exchanged a glance.

“We’re just passing through. We don’t want any trouble,” Will said. They started for the passage on the other side of the courtyard. The red-haired man cracked his knuckles, which Will decided was not a good sign. He reached an arm out to stop Shadow.

The man on the throne took a long while to size them up, before he finally leaned forward.

“You’re human, yeah? Trying to rescue some accursed souls?”

“Uh, yeah, we’re human,” Shadow scoffed. “What the hell are you? An elf?”

The saucer came flying their way; Shadow and Will ducked away in opposite directions to avoid it. Milk dripped down the wall behind them as the red-haired man stood from his throne and took one long stride toward them.

“I’m a fuckin’ leprechaun, dipshit. You really think you’ll make it through this labyrinth after insulting one?” He took another step toward Shadow, but Will stepped between them with his hands up.

“He didn’t mean to insult you. We can make this square,” Will insisted.

The leprechaun looked Will over, looked over his shoulder to Shadow, then at Will again. Then he shrugged.

“Pay me. Our man says I’ve got to get a payment from all who pass, but I get to decide what. So pay me, and you can go.”

“Yeah, sure. We can pay you,” Will agreed. He took out his wallet and offered up all the cash he had.

The leprechaun looked at the wad of paper, but didn’t take it.

“Is this a joke?”

“No, it’s…” Will trailed off as the leprechaun sidestepped him to face down Shadow.

“How about you? You want to pay me?” He asked Shadow.

“If you don’t take cash, what do you want? We don’t have anything else.” Shadow frowned. He was squared up with the leprechaun now.

“I could fight you for your freedom. You beat me? You and the little man can go on your way, happy as can be. I win? You go back and find another way.”

“I don’t want to fight you.”

The leprechaun let out a sound of annoyance. “Then go back and find another way. I’ll pay you in gold, real gold, just as long as you get the fuck out of my sight.”

“We aren’t going back the way we came.”

The red-haired man looked Shadow over, then leaned in. “We could fu—”

Shadow swung hard, his fist connecting with the leprechaun’s side. The leprechaun stumbled, and then let out a laugh that made Will’s blood go cold.

“We have a deal! I should warn you, though. They don’t call me Mad Sweeney for nothin’.” He swung wide, his fist connecting with Shadow’s head when the man tried to dodge away.

Will stumbled back, watching as Shadow backed away and then charged the leprechaun. He wanted to jump in, to give Shadow some support, but something in the back of his head told him not to. Mad Sweeney hadn’t made a deal to fight both of them; he’d made a deal to fight Shadow. If Will got involved, the leprechaun would probably announce himself the winner. So, reluctantly, he watched.

They traded blow after blow.

At one point Mad Sweeney went down, only to use a rock to knock Shadow away.

Then Shadow was slamming Mad Sweeney’s head into the wall, over and over.

Each second that passed seemed longer than the last. Will was anxious, both for Shadow and because they were losing time.

Blood stained both of their clothes and it was hard to tell who was bleeding more.

Finally, Shadow threw Mad Sweeney back into the throne, where the leprechaun stayed. His pale skin and his teeth were coated in blood, and his laughter had given way to anger.

“We’re done here.” Shadow gestured for Will to follow him, and they rushed through the courtyard. From behind them, Mad Sweeney yelled.

“Fuck the both of you! Our man’ll never let you have your girls back! You got lucky, that’s all! You hear me? Your mother was a fuckin’ aardvark!”

His yells eventually faded to nothing.

"I didn't know leprechauns had so many issues," Shadow said. He was massaging his knuckles, but seemed to be in good spirits. Will, on the other hand, was still on edge.

"It's not smart to piss off guys like him. I have a feeling that he's harmless compared to some of the other things that live here."

Shadow and Will found themselves within ruins that reminded Will of the Parthenon. The stone was beautiful, and he ran his fingers over one of the columns. He was admiring the vertical fluting when something moved behind him. He’d only seen it from the corner of his eye, and when he looked, there was nothing there. Still, he was sure he’d seen it.

He followed behind Shadow, listening. Their footsteps echoed, but he was almost certain there was a third set of footsteps. He strained to listen. Just as they turned to walk down a set of steps, Will looked over his shoulder again. He saw it. It was only for a split second, like a mirage, but as it stepped behind a column Will saw an antler. His footsteps faltered.

“Hurry up, Graham,” Shadow called to him. He was several steps ahead now, standing at the edge of the wall that encircled the ruins. Beyond him, through a gateway in the wall, there was a vast field of flowers. Will hurried to catch up to Shadow, then passed him and stepped into the field. Shadow followed him and didn’t look back.

Will did.

It was there.

Will realized with dawning horror that they were being followed by a nightmare; it took the shape of a man, with antlers growing from its head. It was black, even in the sunlight. The deer man was standing at the gateway into the field, but didn’t pass through. Will frowned and looked ahead again, then glanced up at the sun; it was later in the day than he remembered. Maybe the deer man knew something they didn’t.

\---

From high up in his castle, Hannibal watched their movements through a conjured bubble. They were in the land of the Zorya sisters now. More than likely they would give up on their own; if not, the sisters would convince them. Satisfied, he lowered the crystal and looked toward his guests. The woman, Laura, was pushing a goblin out of the way so she could help herself to a cup of ale. She was loud and brash and quite distasteful, and Hannibal decided that she’d fit in perfectly with the goblins. She was too skinny to make any sort of good meal, and her bones would likely sour any broth. 

The young lady, Abigail, had retreated to the window and was petting one of the chickens as she looked out upon his labyrinth. She was soft and broken. Hannibal had given her a damask scarf from his own wardrobe, but she still hadn’t said more than a few words. Perhaps her throat still hurt too badly, or perhaps it was something else. The Goblin King was thoroughly intrigued by her. He wondered if she’d be willing to stay if he offered it.


	2. Flowers and Sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Graham and Shadow Moon find themselves in a very similar situation, in which the Goblin King has taken somebody that they each care for. They have thirteen hours to solve the labyrinth, and are working together to get them back.
> 
> If they fail, the Goblin King will either have new goblins to do his bidding... or dinner. After all, Hannibal Lecter is the Goblin King. He finds that following through with wishes to take humans away is the easiest way to get fresh meat for his infamous dinner parties.
> 
> Having made it into the labyrinth and past an extremely surly leprechaun, Will and Shadow find themselves in a field that is not what it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a Hannibal/Labyrinth AU based off of a dream I had, in which the characters from American Gods were the maze-dwellers. I know there are several Labyrinth AUs already, but I hope that mine is different enough to stand on its own!

_Shadow found himself missing prison. At least in prison there was no chance of finding a picture of your best friend’s dick on your wife’s cell phone. When he confronted her she was indifferent at first, but her resentment quickly became apparent. It didn’t mean anything. It had just been fun. Robbie was the one who was attached, not her. She didn’t need Shadow’s attitude. Why did she have to explain herself? Why couldn’t they get back to normal? Didn’t he fuck anybody in prison?_

_He hadn’t meant to yell at her. He wasn’t surprised when she yelled back, but he was shocked when she pushed him. He backed off, but she was already shouting for some Goblin King and the man had actually shown up. He looked like a psychopath in his plaid suit and paisley tie and those fucking cheekbones. He touched Laura’s cheek and she fell into his arms, unconscious._

_Shadow grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter. The Goblin King’s smile reminded him of a wolf; Shadow wasn’t sure that he was truly a man at all. He told Shadow that he could have his wife back… but he’d have to come fetch her. Shadow reached out with the knife, and was transported._

\---

The field stretched as far as the eye could see, but Shadow knew that it couldn’t go on forever. The labyrinth was an enclosed space, and the glamours were everywhere. Ten feet through the gateway there was a statue of a woman. Its back was to them, and it was dressed in a dark floral dress that stood out against the vibrancy of the field. Its hair was painted into a dark brown braid down its back.

Will and Shadow circled it from opposite sides, studying the severe expression and the arm that was extended, pointing west. Shadow turned to see what it was pointing at, but all he could see was flowers.

 “I don’t know if we should follow it,” Will said.

“It seems like as good a direction as any,” Shadow answered. He sounded unsure, but they couldn’t see the castle from here. They couldn’t see anything. “We’ll be able to follow the sun.”

“It’s giving me a bad feeling.”

“It’s a statue. You think it’s lying to us?” Shadow scoffed. He headed off in the direction they were being pointed, and Will reluctantly followed. As much as he wanted to trust his gut, he’d rather not get separated.

After some time, Will looked over his shoulder. He was relieved to find that there was no sign of the deer man, but his breath caught in his throat when he looked at the statue again. It was still standing in its place, but both of its arms were at its sides. He was positive that it was watching them.

The gateway and the statue eventually disappeared behind them.

There weren’t any landmarks for them to reach, and they continued aimlessly.

With each step they took the sun seemed higher in the sky than it had been before.

By all accounts they should have only been walking for a few minutes, but the quickly moving sun made it feel like they’d been travelling forever.

When they finally stopped to rest, it was nearing sunset. Will knelt down in the flowers and Shadow crouched beside him. They spoke in hushed tones.

“How long have we been out here?”

“I don’t know. Half an hour? Forty five minutes? But it feels like—”

“Hours?”

“Yeah. I don’t trust this place.”

“Shadow, look.”

Will nodded in the direction they’d been walking. Wandering amongst the flowers, backlit by the setting sun, was a woman.

The men stood and quickly approached her. She looked like she was only twenty feet away, but by the time they reached her the sun was below the horizon, and the sky was a deep red-orange.

The old woman held a half-empty bottle of vodka in one hand and flowers in the other. Her white hair was piled atop her head. At the sound of their movements she turned, and looked upon them with distaste. Her accent was strangely familiar, but in this world Will couldn’t place it.

“Why are you still here? Your time is expired.” She took a swig from her bottle of vodka. Shadow bristled.

“It can’t be. We’ve only been in this field for an hour,” Will said.

“He gives you the thirteen hours, yes? You start at sunrise. Is sunset now. That must mean your time is up.”

“No!” Shadow snapped.

“No?”

“Listen, lady, I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, but we haven’t spent an entire day in this fucking field!”

The woman frowned at him, then took another swig from her vodka.

“That is no way to talk to woman. You go, now, and feel lucky I allow it.”

She looked them both over, then handed the flowers to Will. “You are nice boy. Go on.”

Will look the flowers with confusion, but thanked her for them and followed Shadow past her. As the sky darkened in front of them, then moon rose behind them. In the darkness, the flowers shimmered and glowed.

Somewhere distant, and animal cried into the night.

They didn’t speak.

Eventually, be it seconds or hours later, they came across a young woman. She was standing on a small hill, and looking at the sky through a pair of binoculars.

“Hello?” Will called to her from the bottom of the hill.

She turned and peered down at them through the binoculars, then lowered them with a smile. She was young and beautiful, with skin so pale it glowed in the moonlight. Shadow wondered if there was anything in the labyrinth prettier than her.

“Have you come to watch the sky with me?”

“No,” Will answered. “We’re trying to find our way out of this field.”

“I can send you home, if that is what you want.”

“We don’t want to go home,” Shadow said. “Whatever this is, whatever kind of trick, we want it to stop. Please.”

“Why do you think this is a trick?” The young girl tilted her head in curiosity, and her braid dangling over her shoulder.

“Because if our time was really up, we wouldn’t still be here.”

She watched the two of them for a moment longer, and then smiled.

“I can help you, but you must pay me.”

Will looked down at the flowers in his hand, and then hesitantly held them out to her in offering. She beckoned for them to join her on the hill. Only after they were standing beside her did she take the flowers from Will with a pleased expression.

“These are flowers of the day time. They do not bloom here.” She smiled up at Will, and then at Shadow.

“Tell me what it is you want.”

“I want my wife back,” Shadow said.

Will didn’t answer at first. The woman waited, tilting her head one way and then the other. Will got the feeling that she was reading him, and would know the answer regardless.

“I ruined a young girl’s life, and then I let her be taken by that monster. It’s my responsibility to protect her.” Will couldn’t meet her eye as he spoke.

The young woman let her binoculars dangle around her neck as she reached up to cup his cheek. She leaned in close and stood up on her toes, their noses almost touching as she searched his eyes. Then, with a smile, she lowered herself down onto her heels and nodded.

“I will take these flowers as payment, and help you on your way.”

Shadow looked upon her with confusion. “Why are you helping us?”

“We are not all bad, in this labyrinth. This is my gift to you,” she said. She smiled to herself as he drew one flower away from the rest, and held it in front of Shadow’s face.

“Boop!” She touched his nose with the flower.

Shadow stumbled, and found himself standing at the top of a different hill. The sun had returned to its normal position in the sky; it couldn’t be much past noon. He blinked, and Will was beside him with a flower tucked behind his ear.

From this vantage point they could see the field of flowers off in the far distance, peaceful and innocuous. Shadow could see the glamour draped across it like a canopy.

“Hello.”

Shadow and Will both spun around, expecting another whimsical creature. This small man settled in the grass was not it.

“Who are you?” Will asked.

“I am Salim. Have you come to the labyrinth to find somebody as well?”

\---

Hannibal’s eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. He would need to have a word with the youngest sister; this was two humans in a row who’d been allowed to escape the glamour of the field.

“Those are pretty flowers,” Abigail said wistfully. “Are they here in the labyrinth?”

She was standing directly in front of him, leaning down to peer through the other side of his crystal. He looked at her in surprise. Nobody could see anything in his crystals unless he wanted them to… So why was she able to?

"Yes." He held the crystal out to her with a smile. “Do you like it?”

“Yes.”

“Then you may keep it.” He stroked her hair, just once, and let her take the crystal from him.

He leaned back in his throne as Abigail walked away, turning the crystal in her hands like a piece of fruit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this chapter feels rushed to you, it's because after the 50th re-read I started to hate it, so I gave up. :`(
> 
> If this chapter doesn't feel rushed to you, good! :`)

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to @d0wninunderland on Twitter for encouraging me to write this, and to my Fannibal Fam as a whole for being so supportive, and convincing me to write this! <3


End file.
